From nowhere, he produced a feather duster worm in his hands and a devilish smile on his face.
“No!” she squealed. “Don’t touch me with that.”
He tickled her fin then moved up slowly to her backside. She shrieked, boarding on a siren scream.
“Okay, okay,” he said, tossing the feathered thing into the current. “Don’t siren or Jacob will come.”
She laughed, her eyes rolling back into her head, and thought of Jacob—jealous Jacob with his blue-grey eyes and tussled brown hair. Wouldn’t that interruption be embarrassing?
But she didn’t care. Her body, vibrant and alive, zinged with electricity. Her eyelids, though, felt more like dead weights. She willed them open, wanting to see Azor as he touched her. Or was he touching her? A million little soft flutters ticked her scales, all over. She loved this soft, delectable space where the hurts faded—where she was finally happy—free.
She reached out for Azor, her arms magically unpinned, but couldn’t find him. She couldn’t even find the strength to open her eyes to look. Encased in warmth, she didn’t care. His scent was heavy in the water and she’d never felt this magnificent.
20
: : :
Secret Places
Jacob lingered at Azor’s door, warring with himself about opening it, just to look in on her. After he’d escorted her upstairs, she’d slept the entire afternoon, missing dinner. Her soft sleep-induced murmurings had to be enough to comfort him.
He let the notion go and slithered down the porthole. Why did he insist on torturing himself? He should just go to bed and leave the worrying up to the Prince, but he couldn’t. Things didn’t add up.
When Badger had arrived, Azor seemed more concerned about his arrest and returning to the palace, than rejoining his lover. And he’d left her side so quickly—minutes really—and didn’t seem all that much happier. And even at the late hour now, Azor hadn’t returned from the palace. What kept him so preoccupied?
Could Grommet have been right? Jacob shook his head, pushing that idea away once again. Azor couldn’t have committed promising-polygamy and kept it hidden this entire time. Otherwise there’d be a jealous—if not pregnant—mermaid ready to claw Tatiana’s eyes out and difficult to keep quiet. No, Jacob would rather think Azor’s heart was too hard for true love.
“Jacob,” Grommet whispered. “What are you doing up so late? Catch some sleep. I’ve got the doors.”
“Yeah,” Jacob yawned. After searching for Tatiana the entire night prior, some shuteye would be favorable. “Thanks.”
Jacob swam past Grommet with a nod, thankful to have such a good friend.
“Hey, ahhh…” Grommet said slowly. “Have you been to the dungeon since you’ve been back?”
“No. Why?”
“Maybe you should check out the newest arrests.”
Jacob scowled. Most all of his fellow rebels had already been arrested, sans Grommet. And watching Badger dragged in wearing shackles was hard enough. He swam inside anyway, but Grommet couldn’t have prepared him for their latest arrestee.
Jacob’s mouth slipped open as he stared at the merman caged before him. “Jax?”
Jax popped an eye open, gaining focus. He smiled. “Brother. Nice to see you again.”
“You’re supposed to be …”
“Yeah, I know. Dead.” Jax shrugged. “The King can’t keep a good merman down, or should I say up?” He chuckled, pointing to the ceiling.
Jacob gave his brother a quick once over, trying to get past the shock. The last time they’d seen one another was at dinner with their parents before everything happened—the accusation of treason and his brother’s sentence to Bone Island. Yet he hovered there in the current—alive and smiling, no less.
Jax palmed his hand through his hair and the black gleam on his finger caught Jacob’s eye. He blinked slowly, registering the meaning.
“You’re promised?” Jacob asked.
“Nothing gets past you, does it? Babysitting has made you observant.”
Jacob ignored the insult, a hint he’d been getting an earful from Grommet, and continued, “When did this happen?”
“After I kissed a girl, how else?”
Jacob grabbed the bars. “Don’t mess with me, Jaxon. Tell me who.”
“I will. I’ll tell you everything, but I need you to get me out of here first,” he whispered.
His grip slacked on the bars and he glanced down the row of his caged rebel friends. Most were sleeping, except those closest to them—all wanting to be freed, all wanting to go home. He gritted his teeth. The price the rebels needed to pay to ensure everyone’s freedom hit an all time high now that Jax was in custody. How could he secretly get his brother out without raising suspicions?
Sure, the undercover rebel guards had planned to free everyone if they ended up tied to trees on Bone Island, but his brother? If he’d escaped there already, Azor wouldn’t send him back. The next step would be a public execution. They’d need to organize an escape sooner—possibly before Jack returned.
The golden cuff encircling Jax’s wrist caught his eye and his shoulders sank—identical to Tatiana’s, only larger.
“I can get you out, but I need a key to the cuff first,” Jacob finally said, pointing to the golden bracelet.
“So? Get me one.”
“Azor’s got it.”
Jax gritted his teeth. “Then break ‘em—with pliers or something. They’re made of gold.” He tried gnawing on the metal with his teeth.
“Don’t do that! They’re filled with poison.”
Jax threw up his hands. “And let me guess, Azor has the antidote, too?”
Studying Jax’s wrist made Jacob suddenly remember seeing one on Fin. How’d he get out of Natatoria alive? Did Jack have the antidote? “Yeah, but I have an idea.”
Jax’s face brightened. “Good. What?”
“Uh…” He looked around for Badger, but didn’t see him. “I need to talk to Badger.”
“Can’t. He’s in solitary. Guarded by the Dradux.”
Jacob sighed. “Of course.” He tried to recall if he’d ever mentioned the cuff to Badger or not.
“If you can get me out, then why’s everyone locked up anyway?”
“It’s not time yet.”
“Time? Are you kidding me? You’ve got a fine army right here that can take over Natatoria or high-tail it out and you’re waiting?”
“It’s tricky, Jax.” Jacob landed his impatient brother a glare. “The timing needs to be right.”
“You mean you need to wait for Jack so you don’t lose your precious babysitting job,” Jax said, with an eyebrow waggle.
“Don’t think just because you’re inconvenienced, you can start barking orders. There are more lives at stake than just yours.”
“Inconvenienced?” Jax met his glower. “I could die in here, Brother. So, figure this out and soon. I don’t have a ton of time.”
Jacob exhaled hard, his gills flapping in the water. He controlled his tongue, reminded of Tatiana’s mood swings from her promise. “Why did you come back anyway? You were free.”
“Ah,” he shrugged. “I have my reasons.”
Jacob pinched his eyes shut. “It’s the girl, isn’t it? You came back for her.”
Jax looked away. “Maybe.”
“Who? There haven’t been any rogue promisings—”
At Jax’s coy smile, everything clicked into place. Before he’d been wrongly accused of treason, all Jax talked about was Princess Galadriel. After his banishment to Bone Island, Jack was assigned on the secret mission—one to find the lost Princess. Together, Jack’s men had made a quick detour to Bone Island to free his brother, yet he wasn’t there. And when they’d ended up finding Galadriel in Florida of all places, she seemed edgy and cranky. And he’d remembered her fisherman’s tale of how she’d lost her left ring finger from a tangled net.
“Don’t tell me you kissed… Galadriel?”
Jax shrugged with a guilty smile. �
�Face it, brother. We love rich royal blood, don’t we?”
“Poseidon.” Jacob scrubbed his hand over his face. “Was that your crime of treason?”
“But you found her, right? I heard Jack came back. He wouldn’t have returned empty-handed.”
“How could you hear about Jack’s mission but not about anything else?”
Jax flew at the bars. “Is she here? Or not! Answer me, Jacob.”
Jacob’s nostrils flared. “No. She’s not here. She wanted to stay in Florida. Jack returned to stop Tatiana’s promising—and failed—if you didn’t know.”
He groaned. “Florida. Ughhhh.” Jax fell backward in the water and splayed both hands over his heart. “I knew it. Dang it!”
“But she wants to be converted.”
Jax bolted upright. “What?”
“I don’t know. She’s fickle… and crabby.”
Jax grabbed the bars. “No, dude. Don’t mess with me. I want out.”
Jacob looked hard into his brother’s eyes. “I will. I need time though.”
“I’m going crazy in here. It’s been too long. She needs me, or she’s going to do something stupid. If she converts…. I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Jacob didn’t think he needed to worry. Galadriel had been far from cooperative when they found her and knowing the real reason behind her erratic behavior, everything clicked. She couldn’t return to Natatoria promised to a convict, and to be converted would mean losing him forever. She’d been waiting for Jax to find her.
“She’s managing. I had no clue.”
“No clue? Hello?” He wriggled his ring finger. “Nothing gets past you, big brother.”
“She’s missing her finger, from the accident.”
Jax’s smile vanished. “What accident?”
“She said it was a rope or a net…”
Jax growled, fisting the bars again. “I’m gonna kill him!”
“Who?”
“The King, that son of a bass.”
Jacob sucked in a rush of water. Would the King really remove her fingers just so no one would know the truth? He shook his head. “The King’s not doing so great.”
“What?”
“Jack blew the Tahoe gate and the blast knocked down the shark fence. One got to him before we could contain them all.”
Jax’s anger exploded into caustic laughter. “Karma is a freaking bitch!”
Jacob looked away. “I guess you could say that.”
He wondered what bad karma followed him, protecting a woman he loved and watching her pine for the attention of a heartless workaholic.
In a moment of silence, he heard her voice—Tatiana’s—coming from within the compound. At first he thought his sleep deprivation made him imagine it, until she called for Azor. His shoulders slumped.
“I gotta go. We’ll talk more later.” Jacob swam from the dungeon into the house before his brother could reply.
He tried to think of an excuse for why Azor wasn’t home while he scanned the main room. A frantic gasp from the kitchen grabbed his attention. Fear had flooded the room, but she was no longer there. Then through the doors of the servants’ hall, he saw her, banging on Xirene’s door.
“Princess,” Jacob whispered.
She swirled around, eyes wide. “What?” She hissed, eyeing him up and down.
“You shouldn’t be back here.”
“And why not?”
“This is the servants’ quarters. It’s unfit for you—.”
“Mind your own damn business, Jacob.” She jutted out her jaw.
Jacob pulled back, hurt by her tone.
Just then the door before them opened. Xirene appeared wearing a white nightgown that floated around her fin in the current. She yawned and rubbed her eyes with a gloveless hand. “What’s wrong, Princess? Do you need something?”
Tatiana’s eyes scoured Xirene, as if looking for evidence. With a shove, she pushed Xirene aside and swam through the doorway, disappearing through a hole in the ceiling.
Her terror-filled voice echoed in the room. “Azor? Come out this instant.”
Azor? Jacob looked to Xirene, whose face flashed horror. She zipped past him, through the porthole behind Tatiana. Jacob’s heart beat hard, one for the accusation and then for the secret air-filled room. Xirene’s and Tatiana’s wet feet slapped against the floor of the room.
“Princess! Leave my room at once!”
At Tatiana’s grunts, he clenched his jaw, unsure what they were doing. As an unpromised merman, though, he wouldn’t dare enter a maid’s room, but he couldn’t allow this to continue.
“Princess,” he called through cupped hands. “Please, leave Xirene’s room. Don’t do this.”
Something wooden hit the floor, smashing into pieces.
“He was here, wasn’t he?” Tatiana demanded. “Tell me the truth!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Another loud thud followed.
“Don’t lie! I heard him!”
“He isn’t here!” Xirene snarled. “Get out!”
A shriek propelled Jacob’s tail, lifting him up and through the porthole.
“Princess,” Jacob called out as he emerged into the air-filled room.
Then he saw Tatiana—long lean legs connected to bare bottom. She turned, and in a flash he saw her—beautiful and forbidden—before she yanked the bed sheet to cover herself.
He gasped then disappeared under the water with a splash, darting through the hall into the kitchen, past the statue, and toward the front door. With a quick heave of the iron latch, he was outside the compound and over the ridge. He tried to think of something else, anything else. But he couldn’t. The memory of her beautiful curves replayed in his mind and when he closed his eyes, he entertained the snapshot over and over, only he was with her.
Why wasn’t she wearing a skirt?
Of course he’d allowed himself to imagine what that secret place would look like—but to know, and to have a visual to go with it. She’d been the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on before, but now? This? To be so close to her, teased like that, when she was forbidden; Azor’s.
The sad reality hit him and his hands fisted a clump of kelp fronds. He yanked hard with a groan, wanting to shove them down Azor’s throat, when a sick feeling settled over his scales. If Azor found out he’d seen the Princess naked, he’d kill him.
Flaring his fin, he slowed in the current, and stopped. He bowed his head. Running would show his guilt, not to mention leave Tatiana unguarded, and staying… could he stay? Chance getting arrested? He closed his eyes, exhaustion taking ahold of his body. There were more lives than just his to consider. He turned to look to the compound. No one was coming to arrest him. And other than Xirene and Tatiana, no one else knew.
With a lump in his throat, he kicked his fin to return to the compound. He had no choice. He had to take the gamble.
21
: : :
Favorites
Tatiana’s chest heaved as she stood on the wet rug, covering herself with the sheet. Had Jacob really just seen her naked? She knew she should feel embarrassed, or even violated for his mistaken glance, especially after they’d fought. But she didn’t. There was something in his face, his eyes—his carnal want. And ashamedly, she liked it. She could enjoy him watching her like that forever.
Xirene’s fist remained perched on her hip. “Azor is not here,” she said through clenched teeth. “And I suggest you put some clothes on.”
Tatiana eyed her room and then turned to the porthole—anger melting away. “My mistake,” she conceded in defeat. She ditched the sheet and dove into the porthole.
Back in the kitchen, all that remained was a healthy dose of Jacob’s fear from his retreat. She could understand why, considering Azor wouldn’t take his infraction—that was her fault—lightly. She closed her eyes, trying to gain composure, her heart sprinting. If only this was a simple accident, things could continue on as if nothing had happened, but Xirene was ther
e—her wide eyes took in Jacob’s reaction to her nakedness. And now, fueled with anger over Tatiana’s accusations, Xirene had a reason to tattle. And just when things were improving.
Tatiana swam past the mermaid statue into the hall and grazed her hand along the ceiling. Xirene’s secret air-filled room had been there, hidden on the other side of the second-story hallway wall this entire time. She bit her lip, retracing her steps. What was she trying to prove? What had she expected to find?
Laughter had sliced through her dreams, happy and playful. She had awoken, expecting to be lying next to Azor, and startled to find herself alone. The sounds then pulled her from Azor’s bed into the second-story hallway and she’d pressed her ear to the adjacent wall. Azor’s voice mixed with a woman’s flooded her ears.
Recalling the rumpled sheet in Xirene’s room, Tatiana’s chest rose and lowered with dizzying breaths of water. How dare Xirene deny what she heard! There was no way Tatiana was mistaken!
Tatiana swiveled around, ready to find Xirene and scratch her eyes out, when Azor swam through the front doors. Alert and agitated, he startled at the sight of Tatiana.
“What are you doing swimming around without a skirt on at this hour?” he asked with a frown.
Her cheeks heated at the accusation. He’d been the one who’d taken off her skirt earlier, before she’d fallen asleep. It was only because she’d heard laughter on the other side of the wall that she’d darted out of the room unthinking, her backside uncovered before him now. But she wouldn’t let this distract her from confronting the truth. He and Xirene were together, doing the naughty, even when he’d hated all things human. She couldn’t withhold her rage any longer.
“Where have you been?” she seethed.
He glared at her, insulted. “I was at the palace, of course.”
Tatiana studied him, looking for an indication of a lie. “Doing what?”
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “This again?”
“Yes, this again, until…” She gritted her teeth, then sucked in a breath once Jacob swam through the doors, freezing her lips in place.
“You have no right to question me,” Azor said.
Tatiana swished her tail nervously in the current, wishing she had a skirt on. Jacob’s concerned eyes flickered to her for a beat, making her heart race again. A different tug plagued her now—she worried about Jacob’s punishment for seeing her this way. “Nothing. I woke up and you weren’t there. I heard your voice, but I must have been wrong. I’m glad you’re home.”
Everlost (Mer Tales, Book 3) Page 15
